Grant Cottam

MADISON- Grant Cottam, age 90, died early Wednesday morning at Sebring Assisted Care Residence in Madison. He was cared for in his final days with love and kindness by an exceptional group of caregivers. The family is grateful that the staff at Sebring and their Hospice team cared for him in every sense of the word. Grant was born in Sandy, Utah in 1918. He grew up hiking in the mountains, taking incredible camping trips around the country and learning to love the world nature has provided us and to abhor the damage humans have done to it. He followed in his father's footsteps, earning a PhD in Botany from the University of Wisconsin. He also inherited his father's love of photography. Grant married Diana McQuarrie in 1942, in the midst of WWII. He served in the Pacific, earning a silver cross, a bronze star and a field promotion to Captain. After the war, they returned to Wisconsin where Grant completed his PhD. They lived in a variety of student housing, including a trailer park in Camp Randall, where their first child Cynthia was born. He was a student of John Curtis and was very proud to receive an ""A"" from Aldo Leopold. He had a long career, beginning at the University of Hawaii, with the remainder spent in Wisconsin. Grant was famous for his sense of humor. He was a popular teacher and a loving father. As Alzheimer's disease took its hold, we were still able to see flashes of Grant in his delight with flowers, his ability to crack jokes and to take delight in his daughter's problems with rodents. We will miss him very much.

Now Grant was an excellent dad

Pollution and war made him mad

He was funny and kind

With a quick witted mind

Cute girls and bowties made him glad

Grant is survived by his children: Cynthia, Richard, Dan, Margaret and Liatris, and six grandchildren. Memorial gifts may be made to the Nature Conservancy, an organization dear to Grant's heart.